Today’s Kanye West moment of high-culture trolling involves the enigmatic (that’s the best way to describe him nowadays, right?) emcee’s declaration that verse two of his Yeezus track “New Slaves” involves the best rap verse of “ALL TIME IN THE HISTORY OF RAP MUSIC, PERIOD” (his capital letters, not ours).

Cue the Dylan “Chappelle’s Show” GIF.

So, trusted and knowledgeable TSS commentors, is Mr. West’s verse from “New Slaves” the best? Is it top-5 or even top-25 of all time? And if it isn’t, which Hip-Hop verse is?

And now let Complex Editor-In-Chief Noah Callahan-Bever’s tweet implore you to leave your opinions in the comment section below.

Discuss. RT @kanyewest The 2nd verse of New Slaves is the best verse of all time…meaning…OF ALL TIME IN THE HISTORY OF RAP MUSIC, PERIOD

Join The Discussion

Umm…Nah not even in top 100. Dope verse but this is just Kanye being Kanye. Verse started great but ran flat towards the end. Not too sure about the top verse of all time but Em’s 1st verse on “Renegade” definitely comes to mind

Yeah Em’s verse is definitely a contender. But I think Soldier(one of most slept on songs) has one of the most incredible verses I’ve personally ever had to recite during a workout. That song makes me wanna punch a baby off its pram how hyped I get lol!!

I’m not a fan of determining greatest of all time stuff due to the extreme number of factors that must be considered and, lets be honest, nobody not named Kanye West will ever say it is the greatest verse of all time. The farthest I will go however is saying it is an easy top 10, maybe top 5, Kanye verse and the song itself is probably 10 top all time from Kanye’s catalog.

N*ggaz out here loosin they minds I see. I thought the whole point of this project was for him to not be compared to other rappers anymore. What a schizophrenic dumb ass. Who would even generalize a whole genre like that?

Yeah that Em verse is mad slept on (“Shady Records was 80 seconds away from the towers / Them cowards fucked with the wrong building, they meant to hit ours”), although I feel it doesn’t have a mad crescendo at the end, which you’d want in an all-time best verse. That said, the crescendo comes in the hook afterward…That whole song is mad slept on, actually. Eminem produced some crazy beats back in that era…

Another one of my fav verses is Em on “The Sauce”. Absolute perfection of flow…

Ye’s best is easily end of “Gone”. Top 5 all-time is of course subjective. But Prodigy on Shook Ones Pt. II has gotta be in the discussion. Jigga on Dead Presidents Pt. II, verse 2 also a classic. Kendrick put some dope shit up lately too…Kush and Corinthians middle verse is on the all-time tip, surely…

And how about any DOOM verse – “Accordion” or some of those Viktor Vaughn song-long verses are incredible. “Lactose and Lecithin” is the best storyline-verse of all-time #RealTalk

All Ye wants is to sit back and watch the internet go in a frenzy around something he says/does. He comes through periodically with ridiculous hyperboles that I believe for no other reason then he can. And people will react.

Most rappers are arrogant and full of themselves. This is rap. The point is that do you really think this is a genuine attempt to ask opinions or just his way of riling up the internet like he claimed recently he can do. Just him asking the question is just insulting our intelligence.

There’s several different levels to Devil worshippin’ horse’s heads
Human sacrifices, cannibalism, candles and exorcism
Animals havin’ sex with ‘em, camels, mammals and rabbits
But I don’t get into that, I kick the habit

I just beat you to death with weapons that eat through the flesh
And I never eat you unless the ***, meat looks fresh
I got a lion in my pocket, I’m lyin’, I got a *** in my pocket
And baby I’m just, dyin’ to cock him, he’s ready for war, I’m ready for war

I got machetes and swords for any *** that said he was raw
My uz’ as, heavy as yours, yeah you met me before
I just didn’t have as large an arsenal of weapons before
Marshall will step in the door, I lay your head on the floor

With your body spread on the bedspread, red on the wall
Red on the ceilin’, red on the floor, get a new ***
Met on the second, wet on the third, then she’s dead on the fourth
I’m dead wrong

for me personally its Tre’s verse from The Pharcyde’s Runnin. It felt that someone had been watching and the verse was written to help me out of the hole I was in.
Wouldnt expect this to be in many top 500, but for me I cant even think of a #2.

READY FOR WAR JOE How you wanna blow they spot?/
I know these dirty cops thatll let us in if we murder some wop/
Hop in ya Hummer The Punisher’s ready/
Meet me at Vido’s wit Noodles we’ll do this dude while he slurpin spaghetti/
EVERYBODY HIT THE FUCKIN FLOOR Joey Crack buck em all and if they move Noodles, SHOOT THAT FUCKIN WHORE/
Dead in the middle of Little Italy little did we know that we riddled some middle men who didn’t do diddely/

im not kanye not speakin for him but i feel as if he said that because of how fucking authentic that shit is, he wanted ppl to go back and look at the verse then look around to whats going on.. years from now we’re gonna go back to this verse and be like this nigga kanye was talking the truth, but nowadays not many ppl are paying attention to all the corrupt bullshit “our government” is doing.. like “Meanwhile the DEA, Teamed up with the CCA, They tryna lock niggas up, They tryna make new slaves” or “So go and grab the reporters, So I can smash their recorders, See they’ll confuse us with some bullshit, Like the New World Order” he’s saying some shit here man and its scary cause of how real it is.

2Pac was saying shit 20 years ago that you can apply exactly to what’s going on right now and the verses are better than this.

So for Kanye West to come out of the side of his neck with such blasphemy and disregard for hip hop history and legends, he’s gotta get called on this shit. THat shit aint even top 25 Kanye verses….that shit sucks. It aint even the best verse on the song.

“Fuck you and your Hampton house
I’ll fuck your Hampton spouse
Came on her Hampton blouse
And in her Hampton mouth”

No it isn’t, but Ye’s sort of had an inferiority complex when it comes to his rhymes. I think its just from the years of him being told he should just stick to makin beats so he really strives to kill verses. Difference is, there are MCs out there who make killing verses their vocation hence he really can’t compete, he can make better records, songs etc. but he’s not banging out verse of the year joints.

Now I see the Em stans are out heavy so I’m gonna join in. Em’s verse of Words are weapons is just ridicuous. All 3 verses on Criminal are so hilariously & lyrically disrespectful it got him banned from countries, protested, and congress plotting to end his career. And First verse on Soldier and Renegade in my opinion bodies anything Ye’s ever spit.

Very good but definitely not Great in my eyes and ears greedy ol’ pal. Unlike Jay, Em, Tech, Pusha, Lupe, Slaughterhouse for ex. he’s never wowed me or had me hitting the rewind button. Ye get’s the slow golf clap with his verses, there aren’t too many people who are gonna rise up and go “OOOOHHH SHIIIITT!” Matter of fact I can’t even think of a time I have.

And I’ve never done that for a Slaughterhouse or Tech verse. Technical proficiency is far from the most important thing when rapping. If you wanna hear Ye just spaz on a track, listen to Start It Up by Lloyd Banks.

Greed I will forever respect you solely off the fact that you are so ride or die for Ye’s music and perhaps even his character. You wont be swayed or told any different and that’s what a true fan would do! But, to argue that technical proficiency is FAR from important is you being revisionist so as to make excuses for Ye. He’s in the upper echelon of music makers, he makes GREAT records, a genius producer, but he couldn’t hold a Roman Candle next to the best of them. FACT!! He’s far from sitting on the Mount Rushmore of lyrical greats. And as long as he asks stupid self satisfactory questions like this he surely never will. Jay doesn’t, Em doesn’t, Nas doesn’t, the ones not alive never did either. They proclaimed themselves the best on record, but not on twitter or social media or whatever else trying to convince the masses “I’m a great rapper, I’m a great rapper fuck you guys, I’M THE BEST damnit why won’t you believe me?!!”

Am I the only one who likes the second Em verse on “Renegade” more than the first?

‘Ye’s had a few verses I could see being argued for in top ten lists (All Falls Down, the last verse of Gone, I’m really partial to Good Morning too). None of them are on Yeezus, which I think is a great album not exactly the most LYRICAL album or anything.

If you have to debate if a second verse on a track off your album, you’re really raising the white flag on the album. Still think his flow was strong on the album, but nobody trying to hear Kanye rap over the Blade 2 soundtrack.

We really should be debating if his autotune singing at the end of “New Slaves” is the worse ending to a song since French Montana’s verse at the end of “Stay Scheming”

Lupe’s last verse on “Hurt Me Soul”
All of “One Mic”
Nas’ last verse on “One Love”
Eminem’s second verse on “White America”
Eminem’s last verse on “Who Knew”
Eminem’s last verse on “Deja Vu”
Jay’s second verse on “Lost Ones”
All of “Streets on Fire”
All of “Kush and Corinthians”
Jay’s verse on “Guess Who’s Back”
Face’s verse on “This Can’t Be Life”
All better than Ye’s verse. Still a dope song though.

“I want money like Cosby who wouldn’t
It’s this kind of talk that make me think
You probably ain’t got no pudding
Niggas got them kinda dreams from jail
You in the streets nigga
Make your move get your get your mail
Niggas are coastin’ the S.L. but can’t post bail
Niggas are roast the L.
But scared to throw your toast well
I am here to tell niggas it ain’t all swell
There’s heaven then there’s hell niggas
One day your cruisin’ in ya seven
Next day your sweatin’ forgetin’ your lies
Alibis ain’t matchin’ up, bullshit catchin’ up
Hit with the rico, they repo your vehicle
Everything was all good just a week ago
Bout to start bitchin’ ain’t you
Ready to start snitchin’ ain’t you
I forgive your weak ass hustlin’ just ain’t you
Aside from the fast cars
Hunnies that shake they ass at bars
You know you wouldn’t be involved
With the underworld dealers, carriers and mac-miller’s
East-coast bodiers, west-coast cap peelers
Little monkey niggas turn gorilla’s
Stopped in the station filled up on noctane
And now they not sane, and not playin’
That goes without sayin’
Slangin’ day in and day out
With money playin’ then they play you out
Tryin’ to escape my own mind
Lurkin’ the enemy representin’ infinite
With presidencies you know” -Jay-Z

Don’t get me wrong now, that 2nd verse on “New Slaves” gets a lot of replays but, c’mon now. Best 2nd verse of ALL TIME? NAH….

Now….

Had he had said this year so far then. . . . . . . . Maybe we might have a debate

i’m kinda late on this. Seriously, we need to dead all these greatest of all time talks. It’s fucking silly. Kanye needs to quit doing this shit. This year alone, he called his diamonds remix song the best, or his “lucky i ain’t have jay drop him from the team” the best bar. I mean what is the criteria to this shit? Have you really listened to every rap verse? all the great verses in different eras, the ice cubes, the krs ones the tribe, nas, jay-z, j cole verses etc. ? There’s a pile of dope verses from those Artists and many others. So to boil it done all the way to One verse, ONE VERSE or worse still ONE BAR. c’mon son!

Last time on this but, I feel I should slap myself for forgetting the CRIMINALLY, CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED 2nd verse from Lil Wayne:

“Death Wish” with Jadakiss….

Now personally for me I can end this thread. I can’t believe this verse doesn’t get the praise it deserves. It may not be his best lyrically but, god damn the passion in his flow. Reminded me of Em during “The Marshall Matters LP” days.

Andre 3k- Da Art of Storytelling pt 4. “Why in the club you don’t make it precipitate? you know, make it rain when you can make it thunderstorm/
I’m like why?
the world needs sun
the hood needs funds
there’s a war going on and half the battle is guns
how dare i throw it on the floor
when people are poor
So I write like Edgar Allen to restore.”

No. Kanye watched like half a documentary about the CCA mentions them in a song and now hes smarter than everyone? Yeezus sucks coming from a man who promotes himself as one of the most materialistic people in pop culture today.

I love that we don’t know if he serious or not but his mission was accomplished. I’m so glad to be a kanye fan love him or hate him, he gets computers computing a la camron. Oh and of course it’s nowhere near best verse of the month let alone anything else.
My picks

2nd verse in “New Slaves” was the truth…but no the greatest of all time. He def dropped knowledge that flew over a lot of peoples heads i.e. “meanwhile the DEA teamed up with the CCA…” but it flows off into some nonsense about Hampton houses, spouses, & their mouths.

Kanye needs to stop focusing on the ranking, paparazzi, etc & go back to making G.O.O.D. music…seems like that vision was lost over the past few years. I honestly expected to see the “George Bush don’t care about black people” Kanye on “New Slaves”…instead I saw some rapper complaining about the superficial consumerism, that he himself promotes everyday of his life.